ACTS OF UNHAPPINESS

As retrenchment figures in the mining industry soar, labour unions want sections of the Labour Relations Act (LRA) and the Mineral & Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) to be reviewed.

The unions are convinced that if the mining industry followed the letter of the law in retrenchment processes, the situation of laid-off workers would be different to what it is now.

Layoffs have to be carried out in terms of two pieces of legislation: section 189 (3) of the LRA and section 52 of the MPRDA. But unions say these are being flouted as companies rush to retrench at the slightest sign of trouble.

The industry has shed 70,000 jobs since 2012 and the number is set to pass the 100,000 mark by the end of the year as more companies announce job cuts in light of a multitude of factors, including high operating costs and profit losses.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association of Mineworkers & Construction Union (Amcu) say mining companies carry out the section 189 retrenchment process — which requires them to consult labour for 60 days before jobs are cut — before they have concluded engagements with the mineral resources department under section 52 of the MPRDA.

The department is supposed to be alerted at least a year before a company decides to retrench, during which time it has to investigate whether the reasons given for such drastic action are valid.

However, unions say this is not done, and that they themselves try to slow down consultations in the hope that companies will be sold and workers rehired instead of mines being placed in care and maintenance.

Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa says there is a crisis in the industry, and mineral resources minister Mosebenzi Zwane is ill equipped to deal with it. Despite the challenges in the industry, the union has still not met Zwane. And the NUM wants him to be fired over the clumsy handling of the Mining Charter saga, among other reasons.

“When they [mining companies] served [Amcu] with [a section 189 (3) notice], they also served the department with [a section 52 notice] — and these are different processes. We told the department that Sibanye tried to short-circuit the processes, but the department did not support us when we raised this technicality,” says Mathunjwa.

Following Anglogold Ashanti’s recent announcement that it may shed 8,500 jobs, Zwane issued a warning to mining companies over compliance with legislation. He complained of the same issues as those raised by the trade unions, saying he would refer the matter to the mineral & mining development board for investigation.

However, the thousands of workers whose jobs are on the line will likely be out of work by the time such an inquiry is concluded.

The unions say they will take matters into their own hands. Amcu is threatening a strike over retrenchments that will shut down all operations. The NUM says it will “make retrenchments very expensive”, demanding that workers be paid four weeks for each year of service instead of the one week prescribed by the LRA.

“There’s a problem with the country’s laws. We have proposed that section 189 of the LRA should be merged with section 52 of the MPRDA, because at the moment the laws are not helping,” says NUM deputy president Joseph Montisetse. He also says the union will delay the consultation processes until a geological survey is undertaken in the case of companies that attribute closures to the end of mines’ lifespans.

The Chamber of Mines’ Charmane Russell has confirmed that companies are engaged in separate retrenchment processes in parallel, though she says it is not “envisaged that member companies will not follow these processes, as they are legal requirements”.

The industry also seems to have dumped the objectives agreed to by the mining industry growth, development & employment task team (Migdett), which formulated 10 interventions aimed at saving jobs and ameliorating the effect of job losses.

Unions say workers have not been taught alternative skills to ensure they are employable after retrenchments, nor has the training layoff scheme been used to their benefit.

The scheme, established by the labour department during the 2008 recession, has a fund of more than R1bn that is aimed at helping mining companies upskill retrenched workers.

On mining companies’ commitment to the 2015 Migdett agreement, Russell says the situation in the industry has worsened since it was signed.

With no relief in sight for SA’S weak economy, mineworkers who lose their jobs will probably join the pool of more than 9m unemployed South Africans without prospects for re-employment due to a lack of skills.

The mining industry has shed 70,000 jobs since 2012 and the number is set to pass the 100,000 mark by the end of the year as more companies announce job cuts